The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device with a memory element suitable for serving as a One-Time Programmable (OTP) element, and an operation method of such a semiconductor device.
An OTP element is a nonvolatile memory element that may save information even when the power of a device is turned off, and some structures of, for example, fuse type, anti-fuse type, and the like have been suggested.
In a fuse type OTP element, for example, a resistor is fused by feeding a large current to a resistance element made of polycrystalline silicon or the like, a state between both electrodes is changed from a short (short-circuit) state to an open (open-circuit) state, and thereby information writing operation is performed. On the other hand, in an anti-fuse type OTP element, for example, a dielectric breakdown of a dielectric film is caused by application of a voltage equal to or higher than a dielectric voltage to a Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) type capacitive element, and thereby a state between both electrodes is changed from a short state to an open state. In other words, in this anti-fuse type OTP element, information writing operation is performed by allowing the state between both electrodes to be changed from the short state to the open state.
Further, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Published Japanese Translation of PCT Application) No. JP2006-510203 proposes an anti-fuse type OTP element using a technique different from the one described above.